Individualistic theories of criminality.

Question 1

What are the individualistic explanations for criminality?

Answer 1

Learning theories
personality theory
psychodynamic theories
cognitive theories

Question 2

Skinner: Operant conditioning?

Answer 2

Skinner believed that we learn behaviour through operant conditioning: the reinforcement or punishment of our actions
rewarded - more likely to repeat behaviour
punished - less likely to repeat behaviour

Question 3

Differential reinforcement theory?

Answer 3

criminal behaviour is learned through the reinforcement of particular behaviours. If crime has more rewarding consequences than punishing ones, they will be more likely to engage in criminal acts.
Looks at the balance of rewards and punishment for the particular individual.

Question 4

Bandura: Social learning theory?

Answer 4

We learn our behaviour by imitating people
Bandura calls these people ‘models’ - we model their behaviour
we copy those who are of higher status of us
we are more likely to imitate it than if we see them being rewarded rather than punished for it - vicarious reinforcement.

Question 5

what are the key factors of Banduras social learning theory?

Answer 5

Model
Attention
Vicarious reinforcement
imitation

Question 6

Case study: The murder of James Bulger?

Answer 6

James was 2 years old and was abducted, tortured and murdered by Rob and Jon who were both 10. Before the murder Rob and Jon watched the film ‘Chucky: Child’s Play 3’
Model: Chucky (higher status)
Attention: It was on the TV and an exciting film
Vicarious reinforcement: Chucky never got caught and there were multiple movies made about him
Imitation: They are stronger, smarter and older than James.

Question 7

What is bandura’s Bobo doll study.

Answer 7

Children would watch the model interact with a big doll, one group of kids watched a model interact passively with the doll and the other group of children watched the model interact aggressively with the doll. After they watched the model they were left in a room with the doll.
Bandura found that children were more likely to be aggressive to the doll if they watched the model be aggressive, same goes with being passive.

Question 8

Sutherland: Differential association theory?

Answer 8

Criminal behaviour is learnt through peer groups and family that adopt more pro-criminal attitudes and values

Imitation: acquire criminal skills and techniques through observing those around them
Learned attitudes: socialisation within the group exposes the individual to attitudes and values about the law.

Question 9

what does sutherland say prisons are?

Answer 9

Universities for crime

Question 10

Research support by Osborne and West?

Answer 10

They looked at sons of criminal and non-criminal fathers
they found where the father had a criminal conviction, 40% of the sons acquired one by the age of 18
However, where there was no conviction, only 13% of sons had one

Question 11

Eysenck’s personality theory?

Answer 11

• Extraversion
• Neuroticism
• Psychoticism
  Each person has different levels of each trait. High levels in all 3 are people who are more likely to commit crime.

Question 12

Extraversion/introversion?

Answer 12

Extraversion: engage in more social activities, get bored easily, lower levels of cortical arousal, so they seek it through external stimuli.
Introversion: have higher levels of cortical arousal so they avoid external stimuli
Eysenck believed that extroversion is linked to levels of brain activity and cortical arousal

Question 13

Neuroticism/stability?

Answer 13

High neuroticism: high levels of stress and anxiety, lead to a person having a disproportionately negative outlook
Low neuroticism: more emotional stability, and able to cope with stressful events
related to the limbic system and how easily overstimulated it can get
and an underactive SNS - less effected by stressful situations

Question 14

Psychoticism?

Answer 14

higher levels: more likely to engage in irresponsible or miscalculated behaviour. also challenge social norms and be motivated by a need for immediate gratification. Eysenck believed that psychoticism was influenced by biological factors, correlated with levels of hormones such as testosterone.

Question 15

Supporting research for Eysenck’s personality theory?

Answer 15

Eysenck and his wife assessed 2070 male prisoners who were compared to a control group of 2422 males on measures of extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.
they found that prisoners recorded higher scores than the control group for each personality dimension.

Question 16

Contrasting research for Eysenck’s personality theory?

Answer 16

Farrington et al. reviewd the study and found that offenders tend to score highly on P measures, but not for E and N.
there was also no consistent differences between the EEG measures of extroverts and introverts, which casts doubt on the physiological basis of his theory.

Question 17

Sigmund Freud psychodynamic approach?

Answer 17

Freud believes that events in our childhood have a good influence on our adult lives, shaping our personality.
His theory suggests that human behaviour is influenced by unconscious memories, thoughts and urges

Question 18

What are the levels of the unconscious mind?

Answer 18

1. Conscious mind: small amount of mental activity we know about eg. thoughts/perceptions, memories and stored knowledge.
2. Preconscious mind: accessible thoughts, ideas and memories eg. sexual and aggressive instincts
3. Unconscious mind: things we are unaware of and cannot become aware of by ourselves eg. fears, sexual desires, violent motives, traumatic experiences, etc.

Question 19

What is Freud’s tripartite structure of personality?

Answer 19

1. Id: the ‘pleasure’ principle. Animal instincts eg. sex drive, hunger, greed and selfishness. Innate.
2. Superego: the ‘morality’ principle. encourages us to do ‘right’ and punishes us with guilt for doing ‘wrong’. Develops around the age of 3.
3. Ego: the ‘reality’ principle. The job of the ego is to balance the wants of the id and the superego and compensate to fit in with real life.

Question 20

What are causes of an inadequate superego?

Answer 20

1. Weak superego: caused by an absent same-sex parent in the phalic stage.
2. Deviant superego: caused by an internalisation of an immoral superego from deviant parents.
3. Overactive superego: caused by overly strict/harsh parenting.

Question 21

what are the consequences of an inadequate superego?

Answer 21

1. Weak superego: the individual feels less guilty and less inhibition about acting on impulse.
2. Deviant superego: Learnt very early on that deviant behaviour is the norm, and therefore is more likely to repeat it without thought.
3. Overactive superego: Individual may become anxious and guilty by nature, or causing them to unconsciously seek punishment and do so by committing crimes.

Question 22

What did Bowlby believe

Answer 22

Bowlby believed that if a mother-child attachment was broken during the critical period (first 5 years of life) it could lead to emotional, physical and cognitive issues later in life.

Question 23

What are the laws that Bowlby thought of?

Answer 23

1. The law of continuity: a child should receive continuous care of the single most important attachment figure for approximately the first two years of life.
2. The law of accumulated seperation: all of the separations between caregiver and child, no matter how small, add up and have consequences.

Question 24

Bowlby’s ‘44 Thieves’ study?

Answer 24

Sample: 44 adolescents who were referred to child protection programmes for crimes such as theft and vandalism. Control group: 44 adolescents who were referred to clinics for emotional problems with no criminal offences.

He interviewed both groups and their parents and if they had been separated during the critical period and for how long.

Question 25

Bowlby’s ‘44 Thieves’ study findings?

Answer 25

Over half of the thieves had been separated from their mother for 6 months during the first 5 years, control group only had 2.
32% of the thieves showed affectionless psychopathy compared to none in the control group.

Question 26

Thinking errors and biases: Yochelson and Samenow (1976)?

Answer 26

Key idea - criminals are prone to faulty thinking and this makes them more likely to commit crime
Based on a long term study of 240 male offenders, most of whom had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital
They discovered 10 faulty thinking errors and they believed that they could cause criminal behaviour.

Question 27

What are 4 faulty thinking errors?

Answer 27

1. Lack of interest in responsible performance
2. lack of time perspective
3. power thrust
4. ownership attitude

Question 28

Lack of interest in responsible performance, how could this lead to offending?

Answer 28

cut corners, cheats, deceives and manipulate

immediate gratification: obtained through crime eg. theft, assault - immediate thrill

seeks thrill and risk

lack of obligation to others: no one to conform to eg. family, partner, etc.

Question 29

lack of time perspective, how could this lead to offending?

Answer 29

poor conditioning: not learning from mistakes, past offending, punishments as an explanation for repeat offending

Egocentricism: sees owns needs as more important than those of others eg. their victims

Question 30

Power thrust, how could this lead to offending?

Answer 30

sex is not seen as a form of intimacy but rather as another form of power - sexual deviance eg. rape, assault.

Manipulating others and putting oneself in a position of authority comes naturally to the criminal thinkers.

Question 31

Ownership attitudes, how could this lead to offending?

Answer 31

Criminal thinkers also view other people, especially partners, as property. Biker gangs are well known for their abuse of women.

No concepts of the rights of others: sees them as ‘less than’ which can justify offending against them.

Question 32

Kohlberg’s moral development theory?

Answer 32

The process by which people develop the distinction between right and wrong and engage in reasoning between the two.
Kohlberg based his theory on a series of moral dilemmas presented to his study subjects. they were then interviewed to determine the reasoning behind their judgements.

Question 33

what is preconventional morality?

Answer 33

Earliest period of moral development: lasts until the age of 7.
At this age, children’s decisions are primarily shaped by the expectations of adults and the consequences of breaking the rules

According to Kohlberg, people at this stage see rules as fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it is a way to avoid punishment.

Question 34

What is conventional morality?

Answer 34

Marked by the acceptance of social rules regarding what is good and moral. During this time, adolescents and adults internalise the moral standards they have learned from their role models and from society.
Focuses on the acceptance of authority and conforming to the norms of the group

Question 35

what is postconventional morality?

Answer 35

people develop an understanding of abstract principles of morality.
people in the next stage to begin to account for the differing values, opinions, and beliefs of other people.
At this stage, people follow these internalised principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.

Question 36

Criminal behaviour and morality?

Answer 36

criminals are stuck at a less mature level of moral development than everyone else.
They are more likely to be in the preconventional stage of morality, as they are likely to think in terms of whether their actions will lead to a reward or punishment, rather than how it might affect others.
If the reward outweighs the punishment, they see breaking the law as justified and are more likely to offend.